I Reincarnated as the Villain in a Rom-Com, but I'm Enjoying Youth with My Favorite Heroine - Chapter 1 English

 Chapter 1 - Reincarnation

In the mirror stood someone who wasn’t me.

Brown-dyed hair, multiple piercings in the ears, sharp eyes, and a tough-looking face. Tall and muscular too.

As the morning sun streamed into the bathroom, I pinched my cheek and tried to make sense of it all.

Who the hell was this guy?

With the tingling pain spreading across my cheek, memories from yesterday came flooding back.

Months of continuous overtime and working weekends had taken their toll, and I remember collapsing right after returning to my apartment, falling asleep in the entryway.

When I woke up, I found myself lying on a bed, and without thinking, I went to wash my face in this bathroom, only to realize that I wasn’t me.

I had become someone else. Looking around carefully, I didn’t even recognize where I was. This wasn’t my untidy one-bedroom apartment where I lived alone; it was a large, well-kept house where someone else seemed to live with me.

Still in a daze, I looked at my hands.

It was obvious at a glance that these large, rough hands weren’t mine. They bore old scars as if from punching something, and a flashy silver skull ring adorned one of the fingers.

“What the hell is going on...?”

A completely unfamiliar voice escaped my mouth. It was a voice I didn’t recognize, yet it was undeniably my own.

As I was trying to figure out what to do, I heard footsteps coming from the hallway. I panicked and thought about hiding, but... there wasn’t really any space to hide this large body in the bathroom, so I ended up just standing there.

The person who appeared when the door opened looked familiar. I shouldn’t have known who she was, yet somehow, I instinctively understood that she was my sister. Though I couldn’t explain why.

“What? You’re up at this hour? At 7 a.m.? No way!”

The girl who seemed to be my sister looked surprised to see me.

To the me who used to take the first train to work every morning, waking up at 7 a.m. felt late. But to the unfamiliar person I had become, it seemed quite early. What kind of life does this unfamiliar “me” lead?

“Are you actually planning to go to school today? You’re getting close to the danger zone with attendance, right?”

“Huh? Uh... yeah...”

“Anyway, I need to get ready for the morning, so could you move? I can’t do my makeup like this.”

Pushing me aside, my supposed sister stood in front of the bathroom mirror and began applying makeup, pulling cosmetics out of her pouch.

Even though I looked pretty delinquent now, my sister looked like a bit of a gyaru. While she didn’t have piercings, her hair was dyed brown like mine, and she was skillfully applying makeup that enhanced her gyaru appearance.

As I watched her, the fog in my mind slowly began to lift.

Something in my head started explaining the current situation, not in words but in a vague, conceptual way. Yet, I understood it all clearly.

According to this mysterious explanation, this was definitely a case of "reincarnation."

The kind where someone who’s died is reborn in another world and rises to greatness there.

The explanation continued, informing me that this world was what you’d call a "romantic comedy world."

It wasn’t clear yet which manga, novel, game, or anime this world was based on, but apparently, I had been reincarnated into the world of a light-hearted love story about young men and women experiencing the sweet and sour flavors of youth.

I was deeply into manga, novels, games, and anime during my high school and university days, and I still proudly consider myself a dedicated otaku. So, I’m well-versed in the concept of otherworld reincarnation and know what a romantic comedy world is like.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I’d be reincarnated into another world, but now that I’ve become someone else, I can’t help but believe it. After all, there’s no other way to explain the situation.

But according to my memory, I don’t recall dying.

Could it be... that I fell asleep in the entryway but actually died from overwork right then and there...?

“Hey, I’m done getting ready. You can use the bathroom now—go brush your teeth and wash your face. It’s your first day back at school, so take care, alright?”

“O-okay...”

After my sister left, I faced the mirror to reassess the situation.

If it’s true that I died from overwork and reincarnated, then I’ve been given a chance to start life over.

My high school years were gray and lonely, with no friends. Even after getting into university through hard study, nothing changed. I worked myself to death at a company after multiple interviews, and I never had a girlfriend.

If I’ve been reincarnated into a romantic comedy world, then it’s the norm to be the protagonist who’s adored by cute childhood friends, gets along with the student council president, and sits next to a beautiful girl in class. Now that I realize I’m in a romantic comedy world, it’s only natural to start hoping for such a vibrant youth.

But, but...

“No matter how you look at it, I’m the ‘bad boy villain’ character in this romantic comedy...”

It seems that even in my second life, things won’t go so smoothly.